Walter Mondale stated it correctly when he was running against the Reagan machine as well as a vigilant mainstream media in 1984, explaining, "They know that if they ever ran on the issues they would lose, so what they do is try and trick the majority of the American people to vote against themselves."

Richard Nixon came out of the Navy in 1946 and made a quick peace time adjustment by waging war of his own.  His target was Congressman Jerry Voorhees, who was a member of the House Un-American Activities Committee with impeccable anti-Soviet credentials as the Truman administration rolled up its sleeves as the Cold War began.

Nixon's smear stalwarts impugned Voorhees's patriotism with series' of anonymous calls to people residing in the Whittier area district stating, "We just wanted you to know that your congressman, Jerry Voorhees, is a Communist."

Four years later Nixon and his fat cat benefactors decided it was time for him to move up to the senate.  This time his target was Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas and the same game was in active play.  Nixon uncorked his memorable barb of the campaign that "Congresswoman Douglas is pink right down to her underwear."

Study post-World War Two and you see the tragic example of right wing Republican smear artistry at work in which Cold War passions raged and loyal Americans were constantly smeared, many with their lives destroyed in the process, by Joseph McCarthy and Richard Nixon.

Look at how it all ended with Nixon, someone a misguided Bill Clinton saw fit to provide with a hero's sendoff after his ultimate demise.  The same Clinton who sees the Bushes father and son as good and dedicated Americans is so beholden to the New World Order that he fails to appraise history realistically.

A hypothetical question to raise is what would have happened if a liberal Democrat seeking the presidency had placed an agent of the government of Communist China in the law firm where he worked, which did lucrative business with foreign governments?

After that, when this same liberal Democrat achieves the presidency, he does such a whopping amount of business with this same individual, who now occupies a stronger position than ever as a leader of a major international funding group, to the point where this person and the Red Chinese government he represents hold sufficient leverage to ultimately bend the government to serve its nation's will.

Jimmy Carter's timely criticisms of George W. Bush's executive stewardship call attention once more to another war and impeachment discussion with comments by a besieged Richard Nixon alongside a George W. Bush who has currently shrouded himself in escapist fantasy.

As Richard Nixon, after winning office through a successful joint effort with Henry Kissinger to jettison Lyndon Johnson's effort to secure a Vietnam peace agreement was hovering on the brink of impeachment when he escaped into historical fantasy by comparing himself to a revered American president.

Nixon compared his travail to that of Abraham Lincoln in his bleakest moments during the Civil War.  Bruce Catton, considered one of America's most eminent Civil War historians and a Pulitzer Prize winner for his thoughtful work, "A Stillness at Appomattox," delivered a terse comment concerning Nixon's putative parallel.

"I frankly don't see any comparison," Catton stated dismissively.

The topic below was originally posted in my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal.

So when did you first realize our country was led by liars? Was there a particular incident, campaign or speech resulting in an epiphany? Did a cynical role model let you know our country's decision makers could not be trusted to tell the truth?

"Outrageous", "Underhanded" and "An abuse of executive authority" was the way Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut described George W. Bush's action when he nominated Sam Fox to be U.S. Ambassador to Belgium.

Bush, taking a page from "Tricky Dick" Nixon, used a congressional recess to slide an old political crony through as he knew that nominating Fox for Ambassador to Belgium when Congress was in full session wouldn't go through. That was exactly why he withdrew Fox's nomination, as he knew that acting democratically would never succeed.

This displays the blatant hypocrisy of Bush, declaring to service personnel in Iraq that they are fighting for democracy, while he consistently betrays his role as U.S. chief executive committed to following the democratic rules laid down in the Constitution.

"I seriously question the legality of the president's use of the recess appointment authority in that instance," Dodd declared.

The topic below was originally posted in my blog the Intrepid Liberal Journal.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday this week had me thinking about other pioneers with grace, wisdom and decency. One figure worth remembering is Barbara Jordan. It happens January 17th was the 11th anniversary of her death at the age of 59. Jordan was a rare figure who combined gravitas with humility. She broke down barriers to walk the corridors of power but never forgot where she came from.

Educated in the public schools of Houston, Jordan graduated from Phillis Wheatley High School in 1952. Upon earning her B.A. in political science and history from Texas Southern University in 1956 she graduated from Boston University Law School in 1959. Think about that for moment - a black woman from Texas earned a law degree in 1959.

Nothing prompts a change of course faster than anticipated failure.  This rule is maximized in the realm of political office seeking.

Recently in this column points of common interest were revealed concerning Richard Nixon in the seventies and George W. Bush currently.  Nixon concluded a Vietnam peace with virtually the same terms Lyndon Johnson was offered during the 1968 election campaign.  We now know from Anthony Summers and other sources that Nixon and foreign policy adviser sabotaged through dealing with the South Vietnamese government.

No sooner was the Vietnam albatross removed than the Watergate scandal occupied a vise-like grip from which Nixon could never extricate himself.  The politician known as "Tricky Dick" had, in his anxiety to make his last election for the presidency in 1972 his biggest triumph, secured a landslide victory but became ultimately undone through his own excesses in seeking to secure that result.

It is notable that when Nixon resigned his popularity rating stood in the abysmally low 30's.  George W. Bush is mired today at that same woeful figure.  It is a critical point  considering that, just as the hardcore right wing Republicans were the only supporters left in 1974 when Nixon resigned, the same holds true today for Bush.  

Elizabeth Holtzman has experience in the impeachment process as a member of the House Judiciary Committee in the case of President Richard M. Nixon, whose actions put him above the law and abrogated the Constitution.

Holtzman and enough of her Judiciary Committee colleagues believed that the Constitution had indeed been contravened and voted to impeach Nixon.  As reported in a previous column, Nixon was persuaded to resign by a powerful trio of Republicans led by Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona and the nation was spared an impeachment trial.

Elizabeth Holtzman believes that the time has come for George W. Bush to face impeachment proceedings.  As someone who called for impeachment proceedings after Bush and Dick Cheney took America to war on spurious grounds, and on that basis recommended impeachment four years ago, I concur in Holtzman's assessment.

This is a question mark that haunted me as I observed the outpouring of love, respect and the series of funerals honoring former President Gerald Ford.

Vice President Cheney delivered an emotional farewell, crediting Ford with healing the potential divisiveness in the United States if Nixon had not been pardoned.  

The question that troubles me is who gave Gerald Ford the power to pardon a president who had launched war in Cambodia on his own personal agenda, minus the approval of Congress?  

This Cambodia bombing spree was waged in a similar fashion to Bush's Iraq War debacle.  There is no healing for either Nixon's Cambodia onslaught or Bush's Iraq War horror.

The topic below was originally posted in my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal.

Gerald R. Ford, a man fate placed on a stage far bigger than his modest persona suggested he belonged is dead at 93. In August 1974 he was appointed America's 38th president when Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace because of the Watergate scandal. Had he not resigned Nixon surely would've been impeached in the House of Representatives and convicted by the Senate.

Cronyism has been around as long as government, but the Cheney-Bush Administration took this ancient practice well beyond the ranks of anticipated Washington practice.  By the time that everything was narrowed down and the neocon element along with special interest candidates had been chosen there was no room for anyone else.

It was Dick Cheney who, prior to the voter uprising against the Republicans last Tuesday, stated emphatically that his team will continue governing the same way regardless of what happened.  This was synonymous with his comment after the 2000 election decided by a one-vote Supreme Court majority after Bush lost to Al Gore in the popular vote category.  

Bush's talk about holding no grudges and smiling for the cameras during a breakfast with Nancy Pelosi amounted to no more than a head feint.  He hopes to be able to accomplish what Cheney stated he intended to do before the voting, but in order to realize that objective he needs to survive in office.

While Nancy Pelosi has stated that an impeachment action against Bush is "off the table" circumstances along with the forward movement of progressive grassroots movements could remove such a decision from her hands.  Go back three decades to the Watergate period and you will observe that initially impeachment efforts were equated with Don Quixote efforts to assault windmills.

The diary below was originally posted earlier today in my blog the Intrepid Liberal Journal.

It appears Democrats will prevail this November and become the majority party in the House of Representatives. Republicans are likely to retain their majority in the Senate - although severely narrowed. John Conyers the ranking Democrat of the House Judiciary Committee has signaled his willingness to impeach President Bush if given the chance. Vice President Cheney may elude this fate if impeachable offenses can't be linked to his office. Legally, the President is the "decider" regardless of the Vice President's influence. Below is a dramatization of what may transpire using the PBS News Hour as a vehicle. The date is September 11, 2007.

The diary below was originally posted in my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal on August 27th.

Richard Nixon manipulated Americans into believing he had an honorable exit strategy from Vietnam. Ronald Reagan successfully convinced voters he championed a Norman Rockwell society that valued hard work and neighborhood generosity. In 1988, oilman George Herbert Walker Bush won in part as the "environmentalist" candidate. Twelve years later his son stole the presidency after campaigning as a "plain spoken" truth telling man of the people with a "humble" foreign policy.

As Senator Joseph Lieberman seeks to secure the Democratic Party's nomination in Connecticut a question must be asked, one that becomes more increasingly relevant with each passing day.  With Lieberman expressing concern that so many members of his party on the important issue of values, he has made a prominent new ally.  

This new alliance not only begs an important question, it presages a more involved discussion of the direction where Senator Lieberman is taking America.  It lies at the heart of where the Democratic Party stands and the ideological ground it should encompass in the future.  

It must also be asked whether Lieberman and others like him are part of a unilateral disarmament movement to enable the Cheney-Bush style of radical Republicanism to reign unchallenged.

As has been noted, Lieberman has made a recent ally of Fox News right wing Republican commentator Sean Hannity.  On one of his recent appearances Lieberman expressed concern that so many in his party do not understand traditional American values.  The Fox commentator was only too happy to agree.

The paradox is that the right has been proven wrong again and again, as well as hypocritical.  The hypocrisy was blatant in the case of the Vietnam War, a track record now being equaled if not surpassed by the Cheney-Bush brigade's actions and comments on the Iraq War.

Currently those who dare criticize Cheney, Bush and other administration operatives for rushing America to war on demonstrably proven false information are denounced as damaging America at a time the country is waging a war against terrorism.  

Better than a generation ago Nixon and his hired guns declared themselves to be seeking to perpetuate freedom on behalf of the "silent majority," and were allegedly being opposed by those who were accused of "running down America."

It was a period of turbulent division that saw scores of American young men leave the country and travel to Canada, some never to return, rather than go to Vietnam to fight in a war they genuinely believed to be wrong.